VAT number validation not working anymore

Changes in the VIES API are causing problems with Magento's function to validate VAT numbers.

VAT validation error

In the previous days we found out that Magento's validation of VAT numbers is not working anymore. This has to do with a change in the API of the VIES (VAT Information Exchange System).

Because of this change Magento now always thinks that the provided VAT number is invalid. This means that for all companies that normally shouldn't pay VAT are now charged with VAT.

This issue is reported to Magento but for now we don't know when there will be a fix released for this issue.

How to fix this?

An easy way to fix this yourself in the mean time is to change the URL for the VIES API to https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl.

This can be found in the file app/code/core/Mage/Customer/Helper/Data.php around line 74.

Of course it is not the best solution to change it there directly but to override this class. If you don't know how to do so. Please contact us so we can do this for you or we can provide a module that you can install yourself.